The third year of Destiny 2 saw some changes in the way Bungie approached the live game’s seasonal content. Throughout this year, seasons have seen new story beats and activities show up for a few months, then disappear with the start of a new season. Bungie is changing parts of that approach in the game’s fourth year, allowing you to play seasonal activities for longer.
Bungie detailed the shift in its latest This Week at Bungie blog post. Starting with Season 12, which will mark the start of Destiny 2’s Year 4, Bungie will make seasonal activities, story quests, and rewards persist through the entire year.
That’s in contrast to the approach Bungie tried in Year 3 with its current batch of seasons. In another blog post, director Luke Smith explained that Bungie hoped to make Destiny feel like an evolving experience with its current approach. Storylines unfold over seasons, which give rise to specific activities. Those storylines wrap up at the end of the season and set up the story for the next, and the specific activities that go with each season–and their various loot rewards–vanish as well.
Smith said Bungie was going for a “you had to be there” feeling with its seasonal content, encouraging players to tune in and make memories during special events and stories that exist for only a limited time. But that’s led to a lot of players complaining about “fear of missing out,” where taking some time off from the game means you might not earn all the rewards from a season or see everything it has to offer.
Bungie’s new approach combats that: Activities and at least some rewards will still exist after a season ends, although how they work will change to accommodate the advancing narrative of the game world. The post says that Bungie is starting part of that approach in its next content season, which kicks off in June, when it’ll add new Engrams to the game that will allow players to earn seasonal rewards from the rest of Year 3.
Upcoming seasonal changes will also see fewer bounties. Right now, bounties–small objectives like racking up a number of kills with a certain weapon or against a specific kind of enemy–make up a big part of every seasonal activity. That’s been a complaint from players as well, as bounties generally just encourage you to play activities with slightly adjusted approaches, like favoring grenades or picking a specific kind of Super ability. Bungie says it’ll be moving away from an over-reliance on bounties in future seasons, while also adjusting bounty rewards so that they don’t feel like chores you have to log in and complete each week to keep your character advancing through a season.
All the changes sound like they’ll address the player concerns that have cropped up in Year 3, although it’ll be a while before those changes hit the game. Destiny 2’s Season 11 starts on June 9, and it’ll be about 10 more weeks before the beginning of Season 12 and Bungie’s adjustments to how the game works.
Destiny 2 News And Guides
- Destiny 2: Where Is Xur? Exotic Items & Location (May 1-5)
- Destiny 2 Guardian Games: Heir Apparent Exotic And How The Event Works
- New Destiny 2 Update 2.8.1 Eases Pinnacle Grind, Fixes Popular Exploits, Full Patch Notes Here
- Destiny 2 4th Horseman Exotic Quest Guide: How To Find Zavala's Office
- Destiny 2 Seraph Towers And Bunkers Guide: How The New Events Work
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